The present invention generally relates to a combination appliance in which a main appliance is combined with an auxiliary appliance, with the main and auxiliary appliances being arranged to be usable independently of each other and more particularly, to a coupling/uncoupling device for use in the combination appliance.
Conventionally, in combination audio appliances, for example, it has been so arranged that a radio set as the main appliance is combined with a tape recorder as the auxiliary appliance in the case of a radio set equipped with a tape recorder or a tape recorder as the main appliance is combined with a radio set as the auxiliary appliance in the case of a tape recorder equipped with a radio set so as to combine the portable auxiliary appliance with the main appliance so that the combination audio appliance may provide high-powered sound with improved quality through utilization of functions of the auxiliary appliance or enable simultaneous use of the main and auxiliary appliances through provision of other functions.
Generally, the following three methods have been conventionally employed for coupling of the auxiliary appliance with and its uncoupling from the main appliance.
Namely, in the first method, the auxiliary appliance is mounted onto the exterior, usually one of the side surfaces, through a hook or a fixture. However, the first method has such disadvantages that the insecure coupling of the auxiliary appliance with the main appliance tends to result in uncoupling of the auxiliary appliance from the main appliance even when subjected to a slight shock, etc., and electrical connecting portions between the main and auxiliary appliances become unstable since the number of the connecting portions is increased.
Then, in the second method, the main appliance is provided with an accommodating case for accommodating the auxiliary appliance therein and, after the auxiliary appliance has been acommodated into the accomodating case, the acommodating case is fitted into the interior of the main appliance as in the case where a cassette is mounted on a tape recorder through a cassette holder. The second method also, however, has such inconveniences that the main appliance undesirably requires additional space for opening or closing the accommodating case from the main appliance, and there are required complicated operations in the sequence of opening of the accommodating case, accommodating of the auxiliary appliance into the accommodating case and closing of the accommodating case.
Finally, in the third method, it is so arranged that the auxiliary appliance is directly accommodated into an accommodating recess formed in the main appliance equipped with a locking means for locking the auxiliary appliance at the accommodating position and with an ejecting means for ejecting the auxiliary appliance out of the accommodating recess, and the auxiliary appliance is selectively locked at the accommodating position by the locking means and ejected out of the accommodating recess by the ejecting means when the auxiliary appliance has been accommodated fully and is taken out of the main appliance, respectively. However, the third method has such disadvantages that, since the auxiliary appliance is locked at the accommodating position while an urging force of the ejecting means is being applied to the auxiliary appliance at all times in a direction of ejection of the auxiliary appliance, the auxiliary appliance undisirably requires to be so arranged to be locked at its longitudinal central portion so as to balance the locking force of the locking means with the urging force of the ejecting means and obtain a constant stroke of the auxiliary appliance up to the accommodating position, that is, minimize a difference in stroke of the auxiliary appliance between a case where the auxiliary appliance is pushed at one of the longitudinal opposite ends and a case where it is pushed at its longitudinal central portion, so that it becomes extremely difficult to obtain a small-sized auxiliary appliance due to arrangements of components related thereto, etc.